Mom's plea: Don't text and drive

Eileen Miller of Scranton recalled driving recently and looking over at another motorist, who appeared to be texting on a cell phone.

ANDREW SCOTT

Eileen Miller of Scranton recalled driving recently and looking over at another motorist, who appeared to be texting on a cell phone.

"I normally don't say anything to anyone," Miller told those gathered at Friday's Safe 80 Task Force meeting, "but I called over to the lady and asked her why she was texting while driving. She said, 'I'm trying to find my child.'"

"I said to her, 'Do you know where my child is? In a cemetery,'" Miller said. "She asked me if he works there. I told her, 'No, he's dead. He was killed by a driver who was reckless and possibly also distracted.' And then she just looked at me and quietly put her phone away.

"If I can just change one person's behavior, I've made a difference," Miller said, as some of those present nodded in agreement.

Jaswinder Singh, 31, of Parlin, N.J., is charged with vehicular homicide and other offenses in the July 5, 2010, death of Miller's son, Paul Miller, 21, on Route 33 in Hamilton Township.

Singh allegedly was speeding and driving recklessly when his tractor-trailer jackknifed and went across the median hitting Paul Miller's vehicle.

Fueled by her grief, Eileen Miller has since been active in raising public awareness about the dangers of reckless, impaired and distracted driving. Miller also is on the Safe 80 Task Force, a group of concerned citizens and state, local and police officials, who meet periodically to brainstorm ideas to improve traffic safety along the Interstate 80 corridor in Monroe County.

At Friday's task force meeting, Miller voiced frustration about enforcing the state's ban against texting while driving. Miller said she plans to continue efforts to raise awareness by going on more visits to schools to talk to students.

Also attending Friday's meeting were Pennsylvania Department of Transportation representatives.

In light of ongoing construction on the Seventh Street bridge over I-80 in Stroudsburg, PennDOT representatives said east- and westbound lane restrictions should be in effect only between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. every weekday.

Representatives also discussed an ongoing project to place an electronic message board on I-80 East at the Tannersville exit, to detour traffic onto Route 33 in Bartonsville for closures east of Bartonsville. There's also another project to add traffic cameras, like the one at Route 940 and Interstate 380, in other locations.

The next Safe 80 meeting will be 11 a.m. Dec. 21 at the East Stroudsburg University campus building at East Brown Street and Route 447 in Smithfield Township.

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